


In an Instant

by limegreenhummingbird



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 7,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23411716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limegreenhummingbird/pseuds/limegreenhummingbird
Summary: Buck gets hurt again, will this time be the last, will he ever tell Eddie how he feels or will he succumb to his injuries before he gets the chance.
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 81





	1. It was just a normal day until it wasn't

Buck has had a lot happen in this last year and he had been banking on the fact that he had, had his share of it and would not be having any more bad luck for the foreseeable future. Oh, how wrong he was. The shift started as any other, he had come in and headed to the locker room to change so he could go work out. Eddie was in the locker room when he arrived and he asked about Christopher. That boy was growing so much each day. Buck loved that kid so much, sometimes he thought it was too much for just a friend of his dad. Buck didn't think that Hen or Chimney felt this deeply about that kid. Buck could only assume that it had something to do with the emotional turmoil he felt when he looks at Eddie. Buck had experimented when he was younger and found that while he didn't mind kissing both guys and girls he tended to like being in a relationship with girls more. He had, had one good relationship with a guy before he went into seals training. The guy broke up with Buck because he did not want to be in a relationship with someone with such a dangerous job. So the guy left and Buck has been with girls ever since because they always seemed to dig a guy with a dangerous job. Buck guesses that's how he ended up being such a sex crazed guy.

When Abby came along she showed Buck a new perspective and it honestly shocked Buck. He had not realized how fragile and precious life was. When Abby left he had a hard time accepting it. He thought she was the one. It wasn't until he broke up with Ali after firetruck landed on him that he realized he had never truly loved Abby or Ali. Abby had been an ideology that he had grown to want. He loved the idea of what Abby stood for, he did not truly love Abby. Ali was another hope but she did not love his job. His job was such a big part of him and he realized he needed someone who loved every aspect of his life. Breaking up with Ali though got Buck to think. He had only been with girls in so long because he thought guys couldn't handle his job but Ali couldn't either and Buck realized that it wasn't just guys. This really got him thinking about opening up the possibility of trying again with guys. When he started this train of thought one guy popped into his head and has remained there. He looks back over this last year and he realized that he had been crushing on a certain guy from almost the beginning of having met him. He can look back and see all the moments that he had missed because he had put a blinder on when it came to guys. Now that he has taken that blinder off he can't help but notice how much he flirts and spends time with that certain someone.

Buck brings himself back to the present, he had been staring off into space halfway dressed. Eddie was still getting changed next to him. He wonders when he will get the courage to bring up his feelings to Eddie and tell him. The main reason he hasn't taken that step yet is that he doesn't want to mess with the great friendship they have built together. He is also afraid that if he makes a move and Eddie does not reciprocate his feelings that he will loose Eddie and even worse loose Christopher. He is pulled from his thoughts by the alarm going off. So much for that workout. The first call is a relatively simple call. An elderly man had fallen an couldn't get up. Fortunately he had been spared any serious injury and only had a bruised tail bone. Before they even make is back to the station they are sent to another call. A 6 alarm fire in an apartment building. They were the second station to arrive so the other station took the lead. They had the 118 split. They wanted a couple in on search and recovery and a couple on the hose on the ladder truck on the south side of the building where the majority of the flames were present. It was not surprise when Bobby sent Eddie and Buck in together to do search and rescue while the rest set up the hose and ladder. After checking in with the lead station they found out they needed to search floors 8 through 10.

A 10 story apartment building is one the worst places to have a fire. There are so many people who live here and their lives are just going up in flames. The fire seemed to originate from floor 6 on the south side of the building. Floor 1 through 4 were clear and one station was working in the hot zone on floors 5, 6 and 7 and Buck and Eddie were tasked with floors 8, 9, and 10. It took them about 5 minutes to climb the stairs to the tenth floor. With all the adrenaline pumping through Bucks body he wasn't even out of breath. They had decided to start at floor 10 and work their way down. It took them about 10 minutes to clear floor 10 before they moved on to floor 9. Floor 9 took a little longer when a woman who seemed to be in a little shock was refusing to leave. She was scared, she felt safe in her home. In the end Buck and Eddie had convinced her to leave as long as one of them went with her. Buck told Eddie to go. Floor 9 was clear and he would move to 8 while Eddie escorted her down. Eddie did not like it but he saw no other option so he reluctantly left Buck and headed down with the lady. As soon as Eddie had handed over the lady to a paramedic he turned around to head back in but was stopped by Bobby. The had been informed the structure was to unstable and they were pulling everyone out. Eddies heart sank. Buck was still in there and he was alone. 

Meanwhile Buck had been busy clearing floor 8 and was doing a last sweep to make sure he had gotten them all when the order came in to vacate the building. He could only hope Eddie was safe outside. He started making his way towards the stairwell when he heard a cracking. Then he was falling and everything went black.


	2. Darkness

Eddie heard before he saw the building start to crumple in on itself. Everyone was shouting to get back but Eddie was frozen in place. Buck was still in there. It was in this moment Eddie realized he had feelings for Buck. Sure he knew that something was there before but now he knew what it was and his heart was shattering because the man he loves was just inside a 10 story building that just collapsed. Bobby is the one that breaks him from his thoughts and pulls him behind the engine as the the cloud of smoke and debris rushes towards them. He doesn't know when he started to cry but his cheeks are wet with tears. He can hear Bobby talking but his voice is muffled. Then Booby said the magic words that pulled Eddie from his stupor and ready to get to work. Bobby told him that Buck was probably still alive and he needed them to rescue him. They touched base with the station in charge and found out that all floors had been cleared but in addition to Buck 2 other firefighters were still in the building when it went down. Before they could even come up with a plan Eddie was off to find Buck. He would not rest until he was found.

Buck awoke in so much pain and all he could think was not again. Why did the bad stuff always have to happen to him. He could not see anything because it was pith black. He was in total darkness. He tried to assess his injuries. Since he couldn't see he had to rely on how he felt. His head was pounding and he felt a wet substance on the back of his neck. The likelihood of that wet substance being water is not very good. So head injury is the first injury Buck notes. He moves down his body. His arms seem okay he can move them it this little crevice hes in and they don't seem to hurt. He feels a pain in his gut that probably not good. Worst case scenario is he is bleeding internally. His legs are stuck but he can still feel them but there is a lot of pressure he is feeling in his legs. His legs again really. Buck thinks its well past being ironic. He then begins to assess his vitals as well as he can. His breathing is labored and his pulse rate is up. Its then that he thinks of Eddie and Christopher and how he wishes he was at home with them and telling Eddie how he feels.

Eddie is hollering out hoping Buck can hear him and respond. Other firefighters have joined in the search for the 3 missing firefighters. The crews search for about 30 minutes when he hears a commotion and people shouting saying they found one. Eddie runs over hoping to find Buck but it it not Buck it is one of the other missing firefighters and whats worse is he was found dead. Eddies heart stopped. If this firefighter is dead whats to keep him from thinking Buck is dead too. About 20 minutes later some more commotion is happening and Eddie is hopeful once again that Buck has been found. Once again it is not Buck but this firefighter is still alive although in critical condition. The only one left is Buck. He starts to think of Christopher and what he will tell him if the worst should happen and they find Buck dead. It is incomprehensible to Eddie to loose Buck. 2 hours into the search and Buck has not been found.

Buck thinks he can hear movement but he is getting woozy and having a hard time to stay awake. His body is really aching. He tries to call out but his voice catches in his throat. It feels like there is sandpaper in his throat. Some rubble starts falling down on him and he thinks someone may be just above him. He tries to call out again but still his voice just catches in his throat. He feels around for something to make noise with. He find something that feels like a rock but it probably a piece of the building. Now he has to find something to hit it against. He searches with his hands and finds a pipe. He's not sure what type of pipe but its headed up and he hopes it will make enough noise to let someone know he is down here. He starts banging and banging. The exertion is making him even more woozy. He is loosing too much blood. He keeps at it until his body cannot do it anymore and once again his mind falls into darkness.


	3. Lost and Found

Eddie is searching towards the north side of the building closest to the stairwell when he thinks he hears something. No he definitely hears something. Then all of a sudden it stops. He calls Bobby and tells him about the sound hes sure he heard. Bobby agrees they should at least check the area out. They call some more firefighters over and they start to remove the debris from the area that Eddie heard the sound and he silently called out to buck, "hold on mi amor, we are coming." It has been 3 hours since the building collapsed. 3 hours of Eddie not knowing if Buck is alive or dead. His heart is beating faster as he hopes that they will have him in their sights really soon. One of the firefighters calls out that he thinks he sees something. Eddie can only hope and pray that they have finally found buck. 

As they start clearing more debris it is confirmed that they have found him but Eddies mind just goes blank. Buck looks so still and lifeless. He holds his breath waiting for someone to tell him that Buck is still alive. The seconds seem to drag on until finally Hen calls out he has a pulse but its weak. Eddie releases his breath but now a million questions are flooding his mind. What kind of injuries does he have? Is he going to stay alive? Will I get to tell him I love him? Eddies thoughts are cut short when he hears a strangled cry coming from Buck. Buck is awake. He tries to get down to where he can talk to Buck but he is being held back by Bobby. He knows Bobby is right, he needs to stay back and let Buck be rescued from under the debris.

Buck is awake again and the pain is worse than ever but he has people surrounding him. He has been found. Hen is there and she is asking him questions but her voice is muddled. He tries to tell her that he cannot hear her but like earlier his voice is catching in his throat. Out of nowhere he clearly hears Eddie say his name, nothing else just Eddie saying his name. He looks to where he heard and he catches Eddies eyes and the overwhelming grief and sorrow that are just pouring out of them. He wants to tell Eddie right now how he feels but again his voice catches. He has to somehow tell Eddie how he feels but the wooziness is taking over again and he is suddenly very aware that he might not get to tell Eddie how he feels. With tears in his eyes Buck once again is lost to the darkness.

Once Buck has been extricated from the wreckage of the building Eddie can get a better look at him and the severity of his injuries. He has passed out again. Eddie finally gets close enough to brush his shoulder with his hand. He then looks to Hen and asks, "how bad is it?" "Not good", replies Hen. Eddies heart is crushed. He just wants Buck to be okay so he can tell him how he feels. Buck is loaded up in the ambulance and Bobby holds Eddie back. Eddie is devastated. He knows there is not much he could of done to help Buck in the ambulance but the scene was all to familiar to when he lost Shannon. He cannot loose Buck. Luckily Bobby takes the crew off rotation and tells everybody to go do what they need to do. Eddie doesn't eve bother changing when they get back to the station he gets out of the engine and heads to his truck pulling his phone out on his way. He has to call Carla and make sure Christopher will be taken care of as he heads to the hospital. 


	4. A since of Dread

Carla is a godsend. She told Eddie not to worry about Christopher and to worry about their boy. Eddie could care less about getting a speeding ticket right now he was only concentrating on getting to the hospital as fast as he can. He is almost there when he thinks of Maddie. As soon as he checks in on the status of Buck he will call her and fill her in. He arrives to the waiting room of the ER and Hen and Chim are there. They look sad and Eddie is worried as to what he will find out when he talks to them. Hen catches sight of Eddie first and makes motion to Chim about his presence. When Eddie get to them he asks them, "How is he?" Hen tells him about how they had lost him for a moment in the ambulance on the way to the hospital but they had gotten him back and as soon as they got here he was rushed off by doctors. They would not tell them anymore since they were not family. Eddies heart drops. It is filled with dread. Buck had died for a moment. He doesn't realize he a spoken his next thought of what if he looses Buck out loud until Chim is telling him not to think like that. 

He looks at Chim, "Maddie, have you told her?" Chim said he had and that she was on her way. By the time Maddie gets there Bobby, Athena, Karen, and Albert are all there. Their family is here waiting for news of Buck. It has already been an hour since Buck had arrived at the hospital. Now that Maddie and Bobby are here they can go find out what is happening with Buck. Maddie is family and Bobby is Bucks emergency contact. Maddie calls Eddie over. He is shocked at first. He is not family he is not allowed to know how Buck is doing. All he can think is how bad he wants to be Bucks family. Maddie tells him that Buck would want him there too. They go up to the nurses station and ask to have an update on Evan Buckley. The nurse says she will call a doctor to give them an update if they will have a seat until he comes. It feels like a lifetime before a man in a white doctors coat comes out and asks for the family of Evan Buckley. The three of them stand up and the doctor leads them into a private room. Eddie can't help but feel that this is not a good sign.

The doctor tells them that Evan is in critical condition but is still holding on. It sounds so weird to have someone call Buck Evan. He starts to list out all the injuries that Buck had sustained. Intracranial Bleed, internal hemorrhaging due to lacerations on his pancreas and spleen, his leg that had been crushed by the firetruck was fractured on the tibia, he had suffered major blood loss and had already coded three times on the operating table. Eddie could not comprehend all that was going on. He just wanted to know that Buck was going to be OK. Maddie is the one who spoke up wanting to know if her brother was going to be OK. The doctor could not say though. The only thing he could say was that the next 24 hours are going to be critical and that he will know more after then. In the mean time he needed to get back to the surgery room as Buck was not out of surgery yet.

They go back and inform the rest of their family about how Buck is doing and how he is still in surgery. The only thing that Eddie can be thankful for is that Buck was still alive and fighting for his life. He can only hope that Buck will pull through so that he can tell Buck how he feels. He feels a hand on his shoulder, it Bobby. He asks him how he is holding up and honestly he doesn't know. He wants to run and scream and cry and punch something all at once. His Buck is in an operating room fighting for his life.


	5. The Astral Plane

In the surgical suite Buck is under anesthesia and the doctors are hard at work trying to save his life. The thing is that Buck can see what is happening to him as though its not him that it is happening too. Bucks knows that this is what some would call an out of body experience. He once had been very interested in the topic and had done a lot of research on it. It is sometimes referred to as the astral plane. A place that exists between life and death. He is neither dead or alive. That scares Buck because he never got to tell Eddie how he feels. Throughout this time sometimes he is in the astral plane and at other points he remember nothing. He is unsure of what is happening only that he is going to fight like hell to get back to Eddie. 

While Buck is in surgery everyone else is gathered in the waiting room unaware of how close their friend and brother is to death. Bobby and Athena have meandered off the the hospital chapel. Maddie is curled up beside Chim and Hen has her head laying in Karen's lap with Karen petting her hair. Albert left to go get some coffee. Eddie is just taking everything in. Buck has been in surgery for 4 hours now. Even his leg surgery from when he was crushed from the firetruck had not taken this long. Soon they get word that the other firefighter that had been hurt during the collapse has been out of surgery for an hour now and is awake and talking, expected to make a full recovery. Eddie feels hopeful at this if he can make it then Buck can too, but then he remembers the other firefighter that didn't make it and knows that know one is gonna know whether Buck will actually pull through or not. Albert comes back with coffee for everyone but Eddie is just so sick to his stomach to drink anything. He needs some source of comfort and right now the only thing he can think of is talking to his Abuela.

Eddie wanders off away from the waiting area to call his Abuela. She has always been there for him and he really needs someone to lean on right now. Turns out Abuela new he had, had feelings for Buck and supports him. She gives him courage and hope that God will pull Buck through so that he will get the chance to tell him how he feels. Abuela is also promising to cook some food for them to eat while Buck is in recovery. He hangs up the phone and walks back to the waiting room and immediately hears the doctor calling for the family of Evan Buckley. He rushes over and again the doctor leads them into a private room. Eddie feels dread what is the doctor going to tell them now. The doctor starts with the good news first. They had splinted his leg so that the fracture will be able to heal. They have managed to stop and control the internal bleeding and close him up. Its then that the doctors tone turns serious. The Intracranial bleed had Bucks brain swelling and they have temporarily taken off a chunk of his skull to allow the brain room to expand but that they will need to leave him in a medically induced coma and transfer him to the ICU to allow the swelling in his brain to go down before they can finish fixing the bleeding happening on his brain. Eddie is dumbstruck. Buck is in a coma with his brain exposed. He doesn't know what to do. Maddie then asks how long they expect to have him in a coma and the doctor can only say as long as it takes the swelling to go down.

They take the news back to the rest and they all know the unspoken that even when his brain swelling goes down and they do the second surgery there is no guarantee that Buck will come back to them or if he comes back that he will still be Buck because the swelling could cause permanent brain injury. Meanwhile over in the ICU Buck is still in the astral plane. He can see he is out of surgery which is not good because he is still in between life an death. What is going to happen to him now.


	6. The Wait

Buck was in surgery for a total of 6 hours but now he is in the ICU in a medically induced coma. They have taken turns sitting by his bed. With not much they can do some of them start heading home. Hen and Karen need to get home to Denny and Nia. Bobby and Athena need to get home to May and Harry. Albert wants to just go get his mind off of things and get out of here. Now only Chim, Maddie, and Eddie are left. He knows he should go home to his son and comfort him but he doesn't even no how to tell him about Buck. So he stays put hoping by some miracle that Buck will magically wake up and the only news he will have to tell his son is good news. Right now only maybes are hanging in the air. Maybe the swelling will go down. Maybe the next surgery will go well, maybe he won't have brain damage, maybe Buck will come back to him. 

After about 4 hours of waiting Maddie and Chim decide to go home shower, get a little sleep and come back tomorrow, they tell Eddie he should too. The doctor had told them that Bucks brain had reduced swelling a little but still had a ways to go and it could end up being a couple days before they are able to take him back into surgery. The problem is that the longer his brain stays swollen the more likely permanent brain damage will happen. Eddie stays for a while longer by Buck's side holding his hand now that no one is here to see. He starts to talk to him telling him about how he was so sacred and how he needs to pull through so that he can tell him to his face that he loves him. How he wants him to come home to him and Chris. He also tells Buck how he is not sure what to tell his son. He doesn't know how to break the news that his Buck got hurt again. How in an instant their life had been changed because the person they love is hurt and could possibly die. He stays only and hour more before he decides he needs to go home to Chris. 

When he arrives home, Carla meets him at the door. She tells him that Chris fell asleep a little while ago and had been asking all evening where his dad was but that all she told him was that work had run late. He thanks Carla and sends her home. He goes and peeks in Christopher's room and sees him sleeping soundly. He closes the door back and heads to his room. He knows he should probably shower and eat but he is exhausted, mentally and physically. After the tsunami he hoped that he would never again have to see someone he loves hurt. Here he was again though and it was Buck again. Buck had been through so much he didn't deserve to have something else happen to him. He remembers back to when Shannon had died and how he had to tell Chris that his mom was never coming back. That had hurt so much at the time but now he is thinking that if he has to tell Chris that Buck is never coming back it might hurt a lot worse. 

Eddie finally gets up and heads to the shower to rinse away the day. When he gets out of the shower he goes to the kitchen. He had intended to eat but now looking in the fridge he cannot fathom eating right now it just makes him so sick to think about eating. So he closes the fridge and heads back to his bedroom to get some sleep. Sleep eludes Eddie for a little while but eventually he passes out from exhaustion. The last thought on his mind before he fell asleep being that all he can do now is wait. Wait for Buck to hopefully get better.


	7. The Battle for Life Continues

Eddie was awakened by Christopher climbing on top of him and for a split second he forgot about the events of yesterday. Then all at once his mind was flooded with them. He looked at Chris and tried to smile but found he couldn't. He was gonna have to have a talk with him about what was happening with their Buck. After giving Christopher a kid friendly version of the events and what was happening with Buck, Christopher immediately wanted to go see his Buck. Today is Saturday, normally he would be working and he would take Chris to his Abuela's but Bobby had already told him yesterday to take today off. He is in no mindset to be useful at work. So he tells Chris yeah they can go see Buck.

Before they left he called Abuela and updated her about their plans. As they were driving to the hospital, Eddie could tell that Chris was getting nervous. He was fidgeting and seemed very restless. Eddie wished he could reassure his son that Buck was gonna be ok but if he was honest with himself he was not sure Buck was gonna make it.

When he got to the hospital, Maddie was there sitting by Buck's beside. She looked like she was relieved. Eddie was not sure why. She looked up at him as he entered. She smiled at him and said the doctor had just come in. She then saw Christopher and she quieted. Eddie knew immediately she would rather not tell him what the doctor said while Christopher was listening. It was probably best good news or not. Eddie picked up Christopher and laid him in the bed and instructed him to be careful of the different wires and tubes and to not touch his head. That he wanted to go and talk to Maddie and the doctor to see how Buck was doing. His son nodded and was glad to be with his Buck, though he could tell by the look on his face that all the machines that Buck was hooked up to scared him. Eddie and Maddie walked out and closed the door behind them.

The doctor said that the swelling had gone down significantly during the night. The doctor was confident that before the end of the day they would be able to go back in and do his second surgery. Eddie doesn't know what came over him but hearing the news he just broke down. He started crying. Maddie hugged him as he cried. They stood like that for 10 minutes while Eddie let it all out. After he composed himself he apologized to Maddie. She was having none of it though. She confessed she had broke down on Chimney last night. He doesn't know why but suddenly he felt the need to lay out all of his feelings for Buck to his sister. So he did. The problem was before he could even finish, Maddie was laughing. Turns out she knew. She had been wondering if he and her brother would ever figure it out. Maddie insisted then that Buck felt the same way and it gave Eddie hope. 

Meanwhile back in the room, Buck was back in his out of body experience saw Eddie and Christopher come in and he was elated. He wished he could give Chris some kind of reassurance. He also wanted Eddie to come back into the room, he wants so bad to tell him but he is not in control of his body. All of sudden the machines started beeping and Buck was not present anymore. Christopher was freaking out what was happening to his Buck?


	8. It's Now or Never

The moment he heard the alarms going off coming from Buck's room his heart dropped. He saw doctors and nurses reacting and running towards the room. Eddie gets ahold of himself and darts in there to get Christopher out of the way. While he wants to stay with Buck and find out what happens he knows his son does not need to see this. So he leaves the room and takes his son the the waiting area. It's about five minutes later that Maddie joins him and she is obviously in years. Eddie leaves Christopher sitting in the chair and walks over to Maddie. They embrace and whispers to Eddie that they had to take him into emergency surgery. While the swelling had not gone down enough the bleeding had gotten significantly worse and unless they went in now they were going to loose him.

Eddie was freaking out and to make it worse Chris was asking what was happening to Buck. He tried his best to explain what was happening to Buck without terrifying his son too much. After he has satisfied his sons questions he talks to Maddie again. They decided to split up the list of people to notify with the update on Buck. Maddie texts Chim, Albert, and Hen and Eddie let's Bobby, Athena, and Carla know. Soon Bobby, Athena, and Hen show up at the hospital to await an answer to whether or not Buck pull through. The surgery was now or never and Eddie could only hope and pray that Buck would survive. 

In the surgical suite the surgeon is at work trying to stop the several bleeders on Buck's brain. He had coded once but they got him back. About 2 hours later the doctor heads out to update the family. After the close call with the code the surgery went well. They were able to stop all the bleeds and since the swelling had gone down enough they were able to reattach the piece of his skull that they had cut out. The doctor felt it best to keep Buck in a medically induced coma for another 24 hours to allow his brain time to heal. After that they will assess his condition and brain function and make a decision on whether or not to bring him out if the coma. 

Everyone was relieved when they heard the news that Buck had made it through surgery. It made them all hopeful but Eddie couldn't help but linger on the thought that Buck wasn't out of the woods yet. He still had a long road to recovery if his brain wasn't damaged.


	9. Brain Damage?

For the next 24 hours the only thing they could do was wait. Everyone went home knowing that they would all be coming back to see if Buck would wake up when they brought him out of the coma. Eddie took Chris home fed him dinner gave him a bath and put him to bed trying to ease his fears about Buck. His son struggled with falling asleep. But finally he drifted off and Eddie could take a short breath. He still hadn't been able to eat anything, which he knows is bad but his stomach is just so upset and he knows it's because he is stressed to the max with Not knowing whether Buck will be OK or not. With his son fast asleep he grabs his phone to call his Abuela and update her on Buck. He had promised to keep her informed. 

After a while of just wandering around his home thinking about Buck he decides he needs to go and try and get some sleep, although he does not think he will be able to sleep with his mind racing with the what ifs. He is passing Christopher's room when he hears his son scream. He barges into his sons room. Chris is crying. He had, had a nightmare. When he got his son calmed down. He asked him about his nightmare. Of course Eddie could take a good guess on what it was about. His son had dreamed that Buck was gone and was never coming back. Eddie's heart hurt. He wished so much that, that would not become a reality. Christopher wanted to sleep with him the rest of the night so Eddie picked him up and hauled him to his bed and they laid down together. Shortly Chris was back to sleep but sleep was eluding Eddie. 

By the time morning rolled around Eddie still had not gotten any sleep. He could feel that his body was tired but he could not sleep until he knew if Buck would be ok. They will be taking him off the drugs that are keeping him in a coma today. They will find out if his brain is damaged. If his brain is ok he could potentially wake up today and Eddie was praying that by tonight he would know if he would be able to tell Buck how he feels or if he missed out on his chance of ever telling him. Eddie did not want to bring Christopher to the hospital in case the worst should happen. His son was pleading to go but Eddie just could not let him witness the devastation of what would follow if they find out that Buck will never come back from this. So he takes Christopher to his Abuela's and makes sure to hug her well before he heads to the hospital. 

When Eddie arrives at the hospital almost everyone is there. Today is going to be a monumental day. They are either going to find out all hope is lost or that he still has a fighting chance. Eddie does not know what to do or how to feel right now. His emotions are so mixed up right now. Unfortunately the rule for a max of three people is still in effect so only 3 of them are allowed to be in there as they take Buck of the coma medication. They already took him for an MRI to test his brain function and are awaiting the results. This will tell them if there is any hope left. It is decided the Maddie, Bobby, and Eddie will be the ones to go in. Eddie almost doesn't know if he can. The moment they get the results of the MRI they will be able to go ahead with taking him out of a coma or not depending on the results. The doctor wants us to be very clear that if the results come back in the negative it may be time to consider taking him off life support.


	10. Hope

The MRI test is back. The results were mostly positive. The tests showed a few concerns but the doctors are confident that he would wake up and with a little bit of therapy he could make a full recovery. Eddie was crying again but this time it was tears of joy. His Buck was gonna be OK. They took him off the meds and now it was just a matter of when Buck's body would decide if it was ready to wake up. After an hour there was still no sign of him waking up. Bobby nee that Maddie and Eddie did not want to leave Buck's side so he decided to leave and let some of the others have a chance to come see him. The others have also not yet been informed as to the results of the MRI. 

When the rest of the team find out they are overjoyed. One at a time they go to see him. By the time it's cycled back around to Bobby it has been 3 hours and still no sign of Buck waking up. Hen offers to keep Christopher tonight so that Eddie can stay with Buck. Eddie is grateful and accepts. Of course it's under the condition that Eddie let's them know the second Buck wakes up. Eventually everyone goes home with the promise of being notified when he wakes up. The only ones not to go home are Maddie and Eddie. 

It's the middle of the night Maddie is asleep in her chair but sleep does not come for Eddie. 

It's about 3 in the morning when Maddie wake up. She sees Eddie awake and takes a second to really look at him. He has dark circles under his eyes, his skin is pale, he looks awful. She offers to go grab them some food but Eddie tells her he is not hungry. Eddie is wasting away while waiting for her brother to get better. She excuses herself from the room and goes to get some coffee leaving Eddie alone with Buck. About 5 minutes later it happens. He sees Buck's fingers twitch. He leans up closer and says Buck name and ask him to open those beautiful blue eyes. Eddie really needs to see those eyes so he knows that it is going to be OK. Buck's eyes flutter open and Eddie let's out the breath he had been holding. Buck is awake. 


	11. Love Confessions

An instant is all it takes. It was in an instant that the building collapsed with Buck in it, it was in and instant that they had found him, and instant in which he died, and instant in which he needed surgery again, and the instant in which he woke up. Eddie was frozen for an instant. He knew he should start letting people know. Let the doctors and nurses know that Buck was awake but Eddie needed a moment to just take it in that Buck was awake and that it was going to be OK. Finally when he could see Buck struggling with the breathing tube he hit the call button to get the nurses and doctor to come in. Maddie seeing the commotion came running in as well. She was so happy to see Buck awake. The doctor then shewed Maddie and Eddie out of the room so they could do a full assessment on Buck. Maddie and Eddie took this opportunity to start calling everyone and letting them know.

It is not long at all when the doctor comes back out to give them and update. The doctor tells them that the neuro check went well and they do not see any signs of deficits. They want to keep him another 24 hours and do a thorough checkup on all his injuries and if all goes well he could go home at that time as long as he was with someone in the home. They thank the doctor and he takes his leave. Eddie turns to Maddie and tells her that he would like to go tell Buck how he feels and that if Buck and her are OK with it, he would like to take Buck home to his house when he is released. Maddie is supportive of it as long as if he or Buck need anything they let her know. She then tells Eddie to get in there and tell Buck how he feels.

Eddie walks back into Buck's room and sees that his eyes are still open. Eddie stands there for a moment and just stares at Buck. Buck just stares back. Then as Eddie starts to speak so does Buck. Eddie laughs. He tells Buck to go first. Buck tells him he looks like shit. Eddie doesn't know what to say but Buck is not finished talking so he stays quiet. Buck starts rambling about how he hasn't done anything about how he feels because he was always afraid that he would loose Eddie and Christopher if the truth were ever you be revealed and how when he thought he was gonna die the only thing he could think of was that he never got to tell him and how he wished he would get the chance. It suddenly clicked for Eddie, Buck loved him back and they were trying to confess to each other their feelings. Eddie surged forward and put his lips on Buck's. Eddie put so much feeling and tried to say everything that had not been said yet with this kiss. Buck immediately stoped talking when Eddie put his lips to his and seconds after the kiss had been initiated he was leaning into it. That is until he felt the pull of the stitches in his stomach and had to pull back. Eddie apologized immediately for getting carried away.

In the next few moments the boys manage to tell each other they love one another and then Eddie goes on to tell him how when he gets released he wants him to come home with him. Of course Buck is excited because he had dreamed of being able to go home, because Eddie and Christopher were his home.


	12. As Long as were Together

Slowly everyone makes their way to the hospital to see for themselves that Buck was going to be fine. When Hen brought in Christopher a smile lit up his face. His Buck was going to be OK. The doctors performed their checks and determined it was safe for him to go home. He was not supposed to go back to work for 2 months though to allow his injuries to fully heal. Buck cam away from this relatively unscathed. No permanent brain damage. His bone would heal and his abdominal scars would heal. He was not going to need any physical therapy but Bobby did tell him he would need to visit the department phycologist for a mandatory evaluation. Eddie helped Buck to the truck along with Christopher and they headed home together. Eddie knew that as long as they were together they would be OK.


End file.
